Earnings Preview: SINA Corporation Reports Q2 Earnings On August 15

SINA Corporation (NASDAQ:SINA) is scheduled to report its Q2 2012 results on August 15, 2012, after the bell. The street expects EPS and revenue of ($0.02) loss and $127.26M, respectively.

In this article I will recap the historical results of the company, its latest EPS estimates vs. surprises, the latest news from SINA and the news from its closest competitors.

Recent EPS Actuals vs. Estimates

In the last four quarters the company has met or beaten analysts' estimates. In the last quarter it reported ($0.21) loss per share, just above analyst estimates of ($0.23) loss.

The consensus EPS estimate is ($0.02) loss based on 13 analysts' estimates, down from $0.20 a year ago. Revenue estimates are $127.26M, up from $114.28M a year ago. The median target price by analysts for the stock is $75.00.

Average recommendation: Overweight

Source: Marketwatch

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

On July 10, 2012, HSBC Securities initiated Overweight rating for the company.

On June 6, 2012, Oppenheimer upgraded the company from Perform to Outperform.

On February 28, 2012, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated Buy rating for the company.

On February 28, 2012, Brean Murray reiterated Buy rating for the company.

Latest News

On May 15, 2012, SINA Corporation announced its unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2012. Net revenues increased 6% year over year to $106.2 million. Advertising revenues grew 9% year over year to $78.5 million, within the Company's guidance of between $78.0 million and $80.0 million. Net loss attributable to SINA was $13.7 million, or $0.21 diluted net loss per share attributable to SINA.

On February 27, 2012, SINA Corporation announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2011. Net revenues grew 21% year over year to $133.4 million. Advertising revenues grew 26% year over year to a historical high of $103.7 million, within the Company's guidance of between $103 million and $105 million.

Competitors

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES), and Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU) are peers for comparison for SINA Corporation and the table below provides the key metrics for these companies and the industry.

The chart below compares the stock price changes as a percentage for the selected companies and S&P 500 index for the last one year period.

Competitors' Latest Development

On August 8, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc and Oracle Corporation's copyright and patent battle took a strange twist on Tuesday, after a judge ordered the companies to disclose the names of journalists, bloggers and other commentators on their payrolls.

On August 7, 2012, Reuters reported that Eastman Kodak Co which is planning to auction 1,100 digital patents, received two bids from investor groups including Apple Inc and Google Inc of between $150 million and $250 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on August 6, 2012.

On August 6, 2012, SOHU.com announced that for the third quarter of 2012, it expects total revenues between $272-$277 million, non-GAAP net income between $19 -$21 million and non-GAAP fully diluted earnings per share (NYSEARCA:EPS) between $0.50-$0.55. According to I/B/E/S Estimates, analysts were expecting the Company to report revenue of $274 million, net income of $24 million and EPS of $0.60 for the third quarter of 2012.

On July 31, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc. said on July 31, 2012 it acquired marketing start-up Wildfire. Google Inc paid about $250 million for the business, according to a person familiar with the deal.

On July 23, 2012, The Economic Times reported that Apple Inc and Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit filed separate appeals of a federal judge's June 22 order dismissing their mutual patent- infringement claims.

On July 23, 2012, Baidu, Inc. announced that it currently expects to generate total revenues in an amount ranging from RMB6.245 billion ($983.0 million) to RMB6.410 billion ($1.009 billion) for the third quarter of 2012.

On July 10, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc. is close to paying $22.5 million to settle charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple's Safari browser, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials briefed on the settlement terms.

On July 4, 2012, The Economic Times reported that Google Inc. has announced closure of five of its products, including iGoogle, Google Video and Google Chatback, in order to streamline its business.

On July 2, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc. has offered to settle antitrust charges following an ultimatum by EU regulators investigating its business practices, in a move that could stave off a hefty fine.

On June 30, 2012, Reuters reported that U.S. antitrust regulators are investigating whether Google Inc. unit Motorola Mobility is living up to licensing commitments made when its patents were adopted as industry standards.

On June 27, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc. has unveiled its first tablet PC. The Nexus 7 tablet has been built and co-branded in partnership with hardware maker Asus.

On June 24, 2012, Reuters reported that Research In Motion, Ltd. is considering splitting its business in two, separating its struggling handset manufacturing division from its messaging network, The Sunday Times reported.

On June 23, 2012, Reuters reported that a U.S. judge on Friday ruled that Apple Inc. cannot pursue an injunction against Google Inc.'s Motorola Mobility unit, effectively ending a key case for the iPhone maker in the smartphone patent wars.

On June 14, 2012, Reuters reported that a U.S. judge has agreed to hear Apple Inc's request for an injunction against the sale of some Motorola phones, giving the iPhone maker a chance to head off a damaging ruling in the smartphone patent wars.

On June 13, 2012, Reuters reported that Apple Inc must defend against a lawsuit accusing it of letting advertisers secretly track the activity of millions of mobile device users, a federal judge ruled, but Google Inc and several other defendants were dismissed from the case.

On June 5, 2012, Dow Jones reported that Google Inc. on Tuesday announced it acquired Quickoffice, the mobile-productivity software suite known for its Android and iOS document-editing applications.

On June 5, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc. will buy Meebo Inc, a startup that helps online publishers connect their websites with social network sites, Meebo said on its blog.

On June 1, 2012, Google Inc. announced that it has filed a complaint with the European Commission against Nokia Oyj and Microsoft Corp. Google has accused Nokia Oyj and Microsoft Corp of colluding against rivals in the use of their smartphone patents.

On May 29, 2012, Reuters reported that a French court ruled that Google Inc. is not responsible for filtering content on YouTube, asTF1 - Television Francaise 1 SA sought damages for copyrighted sports and movies which ended up on the video-sharing website.

On May 24, 2012, Reuters reported that a German regional court ruled in a hearing on Thursday that Google Inc.'s Motorola Mobility infringed Microsoft Corp patents by offering the option on its mobile phones to send a longer text in a batch of several messages.

On May 23, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc.'s Android mobile platform has not infringed Oracle Corporation's patents, a California jury decided, putting an indefinite hold on Oracle's quest for damages in a legal fight between the two companies over Smartphone technology.

On May 22, 2012, Google Inc. announced that the acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc.(NYSE:MMI) has closed, with Google acquiring MMI for $40.00 per share in cash.

On May 21, 2012, Reuters reported that the European Union's antitrust Chief on Monday ratcheted up the pressure on Google Inc., giving it a matter of weeks to settle an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour and avoid formal charges and a possible fine.

On May 20, 2012, Reuters reported that Google Inc. said on Saturday that Chinese authorities have approved its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. Google, announced plans for the acquisition last year.

On May 17, 2012, Reuters reported that Iran's Foreign Ministry threatened on Thursday to take legal action against Google Inc. for dropping the name Persian Gulf from its Google Maps and leaving the waterway between Iran and Arab states nameless, state television reported.

Technical Overview

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.30B and is currently trading at $49.62 with a 52 week range of $43.12 - $114.89. The stock's year-to-date performance has been -4.58%. It is currently trading above 20 SMA, but below 50 and 200 SMA.

Sources: Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, Marketwatch, Finviz, Reuters.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

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